Eastern Europe: Eastern Europe refers to the eastern part of Europe. In the early 2000s, the unemployment rate was about 10 percentage points higher in the former East than in the former West nearly five times the gap in 2018. The former East has a much smaller population than the former West (about 16 million people, compared with about 67 million), but its productivity is also lower when adjusted for population differences. East-West differences in unemployment rates cut across demographic lines including age and gender. Greece is in Eastern Europe. Western Europe: People speak romance languages and languages with Germanic roots. Eastern European countries include Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, Bulgaria Croatia (Hrvatska), Czech Republic (esk Republika), Estonia (Eesti), Georgia ( ) Hungary (Magyarorsz g), Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Montenegro Poland Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Ukraine. None of this suggests that policy in America is ideal (it isnt) or that European nations are failures (they still rank among the wealthiest places on the planet). https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7s6piXiFK-TaMDsKM4I7IS7iaNiyONEM, How Geography Shaped Africa | Thomas Sowell, Why Cultures Are So Different? They are found in their highest numbers in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Albania. Eastern European death rates overtook those in the west in early October, but restrictions in the region which had eased after the first wave still lagged behind controls reintroduced in the west. 10. Western Europe: More Catholics and Protestant Christians can be seen. It is difficult to point out the geographical division between the western and eastern regions of Europe although it is believed that the Caucasus Mountains, Ural River and mountain lay the boundary for Eastern Europe. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Historically, the culture of Eastern Europe has been closely linked to the history of the rest of the continent. Hungarian is a Finno-Ugric language that is distantly related to Finnish and Estonian. This One Major Factor Makes Germany Richer Than Italy. It was politically weak, it was poor, and the major long-distance commerce was a slave trade led by Vikings. Whats the difference between Eastern and Western Europe? The Byzantium empire which included the Balkans, and Greece were the richest part of Europe prior to Ottoman conquest. What kinds of factors are included in this model? 2. But a while ago I ran into this interesting post about the Romans in Eastern Europe: The Romans were mostly interested in conquering areas that had a high degree of self sufficiency which could provide a tax base for them to extract from. Also, the people follow many religions such as Orthodox Christianityand also Islam. See here for the complete series: I love listening to Dr. Sowell's wonderful explanations for everything. That's because the Black Death was at its peak. Others suggested this eastern European exceptionalism could be explained by culture, with success in limiting the first wave being down to a mentality of fear and readiness to follow harsh rules stemming from the communist era. By introducing very strict prevention measures early on, countries in the region had significantly fewer COVID-related deaths than their western European counterparts.. For most of the Middle Ages, the West was dirt poor, and the real money was in the east. September 01, 2015. Western Europe has the most Nobel Prize, winners. Oxford COVID-19 government response tracker, Committee Member - MNF Research Advisory Committee, PhD Scholarship - Uncle Isaac Brown Indigenous Scholarship. The Polish Lithuanian commonwealth was extremely powerful and wealthy by controling the rivers and by extension farmland and trade between Baltic and Black Seas. The reporter from the Wall Street Journal who shared it remarked that Purple areas are rich as US states. The key difference between Western and Eastern Europe is that Eastern Europe consists of countries that once belonged to the Soviet block, unlike the Western European countries. You can refer to the lesson, but try to recall as many from memory as you can. There are over 500 different languages spoken in the region of eastern Europe. Get unlimited access to over 88,000 lessons. 10. Amazing how so many refuse to acknowledge how climate and geography go hand and hand with a countrys economic development. Adjusting for population size, both cases and . In 1991, per-capita productivity in the former East was less than half (43%) of productivity in the former West. Bohemia and Hungary were also quite powerful, and only the Russian states could be considered poor. Communist regimes were politically repressive, and stifled the economic development of the region. Bernie Sanders, for instance, looks at nations such as Denmark and Sweden today and says that America should copy their expansive welfare states. 47 West Virginia, and not too far above No. In fact, the Ottomans once controlled a large chunk of this region. Using GDP per capita as a measure of both economic output per person and of a countrys standard of living, America is winning quite handsomely. Even in countries where governments reintroduced relatively strong restrictions in October, such as Slovenia and Lithuania, infections and deaths have remained high throughout November suggesting low compliance with the rules. So that's not the answerit's something else. This is perhaps one reason why startup teams in Western Europe are much smaller than in Eastern Europe. He also serves on the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review. - Definition & Types, Ad Hoc Balancing Theory: Definition & Examples, English Common Law System: Definition & History, Jeremy Bentham: Biography, Theory & Ethics, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. The Czech Republic acted very late, for example, imposing stricter measures at the end of October, even though cases and deaths had been soaring upwards during the month. Even the Catholic Church held a different view from the eastern church. An error occurred trying to load this video. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Sorry anon point already proven . 5. My idea incorporates the model of a contest or a tournament where your odds of winning are higher if you spend more resources on fighting. Poland and eastern europe (as well as parts of Germany) did not have the higher level of urbanism at this time as in comparison with some Celtic Gallic settlements, which were in many ways already integrated into the Roman trade network in the case of southern Gaul. Speaking of European prosperity, heres a fascinating map I saw on Twitter. And while 7.5% of East Germans ages 55 to 64 were unemployed in 2018, the share was 5.3% among West Germans in the same age range. In either case, you'll still be spending money on the military and on military research. This button displays the currently selected search type. All rights reserved. Because at close to the end of WWII Stalin was fed up waiting for the ever delaying Normandy landing, wanted making peace with Hitler, and go home to carry on building communism. Central and East Europe were simply geographically unfortunate as wave after wave of immigrants and invaders moved through the region from China and were stopped before they made it into W Europe. ), See also: How the attitudes of West and East Germans compare, 30 years after fall of Berlin Wall. Their situation relative to Western Europe has not become better 70 years after WWII. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. Around three-quarters of people in the former East Germany (74%) and around two-thirds of those in the former West (66%) say the East still has not achieved the same living standards as the West, according to the Centers recent survey, which was conducted among representative samples of adults in both areas as part of a larger study of Europe. /r/History is a place for discussions about history. Although they may seem like completely different worlds at first glance, there are some striking similarities between eastern and western European countries that can help travelers decide where to go on vacation or which country to live in after college graduation. why is eastern europe poorer than western europe? They mostly had industry in the western part of the empire while the east was sparsely populated, large parts of the population were seen as unreliable (= suspected tsar sympathisers) and it was expected that the most eastern parts would get ruined by the next war with Russia so there wasn't much work to improve anything. Put another way, people in the former East Germany earned 86% the after-tax income of their West German counterparts in 2017. Unemployment is persistently higher in the former East Germany than in the former West. Almost all the Muslims who live in Eastern Europe belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. Although they may be connected by us all being human beings, there is a lot that separates us as well. Answer (1 of 21): It's not. You also have more free time to learn other skills and trades. They are languages that descend from Latin, the language of the Romans. Just take any economic, social map and overlay it with the iron curtain map and you will understand what it's actually about. Gunpowder was really important for conquering territory; it allows a small number of people to exercise a lot of influence. - Definition, Eligibility & Coverage, What Is Medication Reconciliation? Romanian is a romance language. Yes, there are lots of conventional explanationsindustrialization, for examplebut on closer inspection they all fall apart. Then you have more capital to invest, which allows for . As always, excellently explained to be easily understood. 1. Constantinople is now the city of Istanbul in Turkey, and the greatest church of the Eastern Orthodox faith, the Hagia Sophia, is located there. 3. Luckily, this blog post will help you to understand some of the differences between these two parts of Europe. This is a problem in an age of common migration because the educated and talented are migrating from Eastern to Western Europe. Islam - Islam came to Eastern Europe via the Ottoman Empire. These are the countries that are in Eastern Europe: Russia (Partly in Asia). It's also a sign of prosperity that, when they do earn American dollars, foreigners often choose to invest those funds in the American economy (remember, the necessary flip side of a "trade deficit" is a "capital surplus"). What explains this reluctance to reintroduce restrictions? Between these two regions, a myriad of differences can be viewed regarding the geographical location, culture, economy, etc. Also the Danube is a big invasion route from the Black Sea to Germany. England in 1800 was the richest country in the world, but the population lived in terrible poverty), Easter Europe always got the brunt of the migrant waves for almost all of recorded history, it didn't really begin to stabilize until the 900s so it had some catching up to do. Hungarian, Romanian, Albanian, Roma, and Turkish are the three Eastern European languages that are not Slavic. Read our research on: Congress | Economy | Gender. You can think of that as being much like a baseball team that hires better players to win more games, but in this case, instead of coaches, it's political leaders and instead of games there are wars. One difference is that Eastern European countries were part of the Soviet Union for decades while Western European countries had more independence during this period. Usually, when this question is asked, the response is that WWII and the Cold War ruined Eastern Europe, or that the agricultural and industrial revolutions began in Britain and not in Eastern Europe. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Paris was this little walled fortress town, and Constantinople was so large it needed its own governor. Western Europe: Western Europe refers to the western part of Europe. Excellent point. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. David has taught Honors Physics, AP Physics, IB Physics and general science courses. In other words, continuing in a successful manner the integration of the Eastern European member states with Western Europe has always been and will always be the single most important thing (factor, challenge, decision, area, you name it) for the EU as a whole. All countries in the region have seen significant increases in cases and deaths. For this reason, the economic situation is not uniform across the region. There are many possible explanations for why history played out this way, but few can explain why the West was so powerful for so long. I understand why it looks that way but that's because of your perspective. Western Europe is incredibly rich in culture from rich cuisine (French cuisine is divine and Im going to include Portuguese cuisine too) to traditional festivals still being held. However, people in both areas work hard with about 40 hours per week spent working (the same amount). Language spoken in most eastern European countries includes Russian and Ukrainian. In 2018, the average unemployment rate was 6.9% in the six states of the former East Germany, compared with 4.8% in the 10 states of the former West Germany. When we turn to the second wave (starting around September and ongoing), were faced with the opposite question: why did eastern European countries not act in spite of rapidly rising infections and deaths? The Mongols ravaged and destroyed the entirety of the Rus' land for centuries while making the Rus' their slaves. Well, Eastern Europe has always been less developed than the Western half. 525 lessons. As its name suggests, Eastern Europe is the eastern part of the European continent. This is a somewhat more serious subreddit compared to many others. Spain and Portugal are often included in definitions of Western Europe despite not bordering any other country that belongs to the group. But one explanation that can probably be ditched is the culture argument mentioned previously. Its easternmost border is the Ural mountains. Thanks! For example, if I am fighting you and you figure out a better way to build an armed ship, I can imitate you. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you They were subjugated by, at war with, or were the front lines and battlefields of the austrian wars against the Ottomans for four and a half centuries. - Definition & Laws, What Is Medicare? Lets get back to whether people in places such as Denmark (or anywhere else in Europe) enjoy more prosperity than their American counterparts. You'll still need to back up the peace with armed forces, but you won't actually fight all that much, and that's a much better outcome. | Thomas Sowell 6,459 views Aug 4, 2022 Thomas Sowell Explains how geographical differences between Eastern and Western Europe played a key.